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Personal Demographics Service (PDS)

Population Size

8,351,149

People

Population Size statistic card

Years

2010

Years statistic card

Associated BioSamples

None/not available

Associated BioSamples statistic card

Geographic coverage

North West England: https://www.geonames.org/2641227/north-west.html

Geographic coverage statistic card

Lead time

2-6 months

Lead time statistic card

Summary

The Personal Demographics Service (PDS) is used by healthcare professionals as the national master database of all NHS patients in England, Wales and the Isle of Man. It holds basic patient details such as name, address, date of birth, contact details, registered GP, nominated pharmacy and NHS number. PDS has a National Back Office for handling data quality.

Documentation

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/personal-demographics-service

Dataset type

Health and disease

Dataset population size

8351149

Keywords

Observations

Observed Node

Disambiguating Description

Measured Value

Measured Property

Observation Date

Findings

Total number of individuals in a care home that are alive

5511

Count (Care home flag =Y and Date of Death is null)

18 Jun 2025

Findings

Average age of death

77

Average (where Date of Death is not null)

18 Jun 2025

Provenance

Source of data extraction

EPR, Paper-based

Collection source setting

Census, Community, Local authority, National government, Primary care - Clinic, Secondary care - Accident and Emergency, Secondary care - In-patients, Secondary care - Outpatients

Patient pathway description

A patient&rsquos demographic information is captured and maintained in the Patient Demographics Service (PDS) to ensure accurate identification and continuity of care across NHS services.

Biological sample availability

None/not available

Structural Metadata

Details

Publishing frequency

Monthly

Version

1.0.0

Modified

17/06/2026

Coverage

Start date

31/03/2010

Time lag

2-4 weeks

Geographic coverage

North West England: https://www.geonames.org/2641227/north-west.html

Maximum age range

112

Accessibility

Language

en

Alignment with standardised data models

NHS DATA DICTIONARY

Controlled vocabulary

LOCAL

Format

text/CSV, application/SQL

Data Access Request

Dataset pipeline status

Not available

Access rights

https://northwestsde.nhs.uk/for-sde-users/apply-to-use-the-sde

Time to dataset access

2-6 months

Access method category

TRE/SDE

Access service description

A secure workspace within the SDE will be implemented for each project. The standard package for a secure workspace includes a cloud-based VDI providing access to an instance of the platform and a suite of included tools. Further details can be provided on request

Jurisdiction

UK

Data use limitation

Research use only

Data use requirements

User-specific restriction

Data Controller

North West Secure Data Environment

Data Processor

Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit

Demographics

Dataset Types: Health and disease

Collection Sources: Census, Community, Local authority, National government, Primary care - Clinic, Secondary care - Accident and Emergency, Secondary care - In-patients, Secondary care - Outpatients